Bills running back Ray Davis finally gets his chance to kick, but hopes it was his last
Davis did everything with the football Saturday but throw a pass in the Bills' 34-25 preseason loss to the New York Giants. He ran with it, caught it and finally got a chance to do something he has wanted to for years.
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With kicker Tyler Bass sidelined by a pelvic problem and coach Sean McDermott curious about how to deal with a specific type of crisis, the Bills deployed Davis to try an extra point.
Davis made the kick, equivalent to a 33-yard field goal.
'It's pretty wild,' Davis said. 'All I could think about is, 'Either I'm going to have a great night tonight and have a bunch of Instagram followers, or my DMs are going to be talking about how I cannot kick a ball.''
Davis kicked and punted in high school, but pleas to stake his claim as an emergency leg were rebuffed by his coaches at Temple, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The Bills finally granted his wish at minicamp, letting him try kickoffs. Bass' recent injury provided greater opportunity.
.@Ray_Davis07 had to update the resume. 😂#BillsMafia | #GoBills pic.twitter.com/XxItaMHECW
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) August 10, 2025
The Bills signed kicker Caden Davis on Friday to get them through the game, but McDermott wanted to see how Davis would handle a fire drill. Before playing the Bills in 2021, Carolina Panthers kicker Zane Gonzalez suffered a quadriceps injury in pregame warmups, forcing receiver Brandon Zylstra to kick off and preventing any field goals or extra points.
'You kind of make a mental note of that, saying, 'What if it happened to us?'' McDermott said. 'With T-Bass out, even though we signed a kicker, I wanted to see what it would look like. It's different in practice. We've always practiced it, but the transition, the pit stop …'
Not tires, but shoes.
Davis' priority is to be suited up to play running back, but kickers rely on a special shoe. After a touchdown, Davis has only the time it takes the referee to spot the ball and the 25-second play clock to swap footwear.
'We score. Ray's on the sideline. They're hitting his lug nuts in the pit stop, the Zhrrrrrt,' McDermott said, delivering a high-quality, wheel-gun sound effect for emphasis, 'and we're getting the shoe off and getting the other shoe on. I think Coach (special teams coordinator Chris) Tabor may have tied his shoe for him; I'm not sure.
'But it was a really good pit stop, and the execution … It was really cool to watch.'
Davis confessed his kicking shoe – white as opposed to the black cleat on his left foot – was just halfway on when he lined up for the point. His blue mouthpiece dangled from he bottom bar of his facemask. He peered through a visor.
Very un-kicker-like.
Reid Ferguson snapped the ball to holder Brad Robbins for the proper placement. The kick was low, and it fluttered, but it went through the uprights.
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'Brad was, like, 'Holy … It went in!'' Davis said. 'We were, like, 'Holy s—. It did go in.'
McDermott noted the shoe-switcheroo might be too tricky to pull off for an extra point if Davis is on the field for the preceding touchdown. One option would be to have a player rush the kicking shoe onto the field to save time.
Preseason stats are dodgy, but Davis is believed to be the first Bills non-kicker to attempt an extra point or field goal since the NFL-AFL merger.
In the grainy black-and-white days before then, position players such as Hall of Famers George Blanda and Lou Groza frequently handled kicking duties. Buffalo had a few of those, including Wall of Fame fullback Cookie Gilchrist, 1961 AFL interceptions leader Billy Atkins and defensive end Mack Yoho.
'It's fun! It's great!' Bills running back Ty Johnson said of Davis' PAT contribution. 'I'm excited to see him do that, especially if anything happens and just being able to have that person on the roster.
'And if he does kickoffs, that's another defender who can go down there and tackle.'
Only six non-kickers have attempted a field goal or extra point in a regular-season game since the merger.
In 2023, Houston Texans running back Dare Ogunbowale made a 29-yard, fourth-quarter field goal in a two-point victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Slot receiver Wes Welker scored his first NFL points in 2004 with the Miami Dolphins on an extra point and a 29-yard field goal, and six years later reprised his emergency role for the New England Patriots with an extra point. On the same day, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh clanged the right upright on an extra-point attempt. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Chris Miller made a 23-yard field goal in 1989.
Two non-kickers were summoned in 1979: New Orleans Saints running back Tony Galbreath made field goals from 23 and 27 yards, while Green Bay Packers linebacker John Anderson made a 39-yarder that year but missed an extra point. (The Elias Sports Bureau also credits San Diego Chargers quarterback Cliff Olander in 1979, but he was drafted to be a punter and remained a kickoff specialist. Olander converted one of two extra points in a game and failed on a 48-yard field goal in another.)
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His curiosity quenched Saturday, McDermott sent out Caden Davis for the rest of the kicks. The undrafted rookie from Ole Miss converted his only attempts, an extra point and a 24-yard field goal.
McDermott said he doesn't plan on having Ray Davis kick in the last two preseason games.
'I don't want him to pull a hamstring,' McDermott said.
The eager running back wanted to try a field goal of greater distance Saturday. Just to see. It was an exhibition game, after all.
Davis' enthusiasm, however, has practical boundaries. He wants Bass back and healthy and lining up for all the important kicks when they truly matter.
'Let's pray,' Davis said, 'I never have to do it again.'
(Top photo of Ray Davis: Bryan M. Bennett / Getty Images)
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